The Labor enquirer., 1887-01-29
OUT OF WORK.

n ----- f
's7 Comnencsd in Darkness, Its End
Hay Bring Rsvolltion's
Light.
For The ENQUIRER.
The incapacitv and near-sightedness
Of the governing classes are always tho
immediate causes Of Physical Force
Revolutions. Buried In the considera-
tion Of their own well-being our oppres-
sors seem to be unable to appreciate
events which foretell IN approaching
end to the patience Of their victims. II
wasso in France in 1889 /; it d 20 to-day
in Enkland. 2 N\I>
The Social Democrats have moved
heaven and earth, 90 to speak, to make
the coming Revolution in this country
a peaceful one \ to induce the sovern-
ment to recognize and give wav to the
inevitable in time, Again and again
have We shown them the thousands Of
hungry toilers and asked them for work.
and i'm eyerv case We have been an
sweFed that nothing can be done, which
means that thsv will do nothing. And
vet bands Of hungry men walk through
the streets every day to demonstrate the
necessity Of something being done.
Generally four or six march along to-
gether, walking III the middle Of
the road. singing or attempting
to sing. and collecting money from
those who will give; but sometimes
from thirteen to twenty may be seen
wandering along together bearing ~
rough brown paper banner ette with the
inscription "Work Wsnted."or "Ous Of
Work." and headed by one or two play
ing concertinas or drums. The. lord
MAYORS fund of the riot Of last year, too,
has broughta large number Of unem-
ployed into London from the country.
Altogether the situation gets more and
more desperate every day.
A week ago wshad sno wstorm. but.
although 80 many thousands of men are
needing work, it is only in the buster
thoroughfares that the snow has been
cleared awav, and where such work has
been done they have only paid 8 cents
an hour. Yesterday being New Years
day we visited the local authorities in
different parts of London to Nimpress
upon them the necessity of starting
public works each branch doing the
work of Its own district. An accountlo
the method Of procedure at Bermond,
sey, where attended. will give an idea
of-the way in which We went to work In
all the districts:
Tho place of gathering in this instance
was Bermondsey square, and herest the
time fixed some 700 workers had a.
sembled. The attendance would no
doubt haye been very much larger but
for the dense fox which hung like pail
over the metropolis for the whole dav
and the bitter and unusual cold. How
ever, punctually at half past two in the
afternoon We held meeting of about
half an hours duration, and then went
around to visit the individual members
of the "vestry" orslocal governing body,
the body itself refusing to see deputa-
ton on the subject and therefore not
sitting on that day. A large force Of
police were of course In attendance a.
we'll as detectives in the crowd. The
first house we visited was the residence
of the chairman, q reverend gentleman,
who gets large salary for not following
in the steps Of the Carpenter Of Nasar.
eth. When we got there large force Of
police were drawn up before the door,
and even the deputation Of four were
not permitted to pass through and put
their views before the wolf in sleeps
clothing.
Not wanting to cause riot We went
on to the town hall and left letter con.
tanning our temporary proposals to deal
with the distress for the vestry to con.
slider at their next meeting. We then
proceeded to visit another vestrYman. q
shop keeper, who turned pale a. about
half dozen Of us got into the shop
ahead of the police, and suffered out
that he had "chucked up the vestry.'
Another man we visited got the police
in front Of him and then shouted that
We were we'll paid to come and frighteh
him. Thus We went around to them
all, but only one or two Of the lot acted
sensiblv and promised to support some
Of our proposals. I
We returned to our meeting place and
some Of us commented from the ros
trum on the miserable Wav in which v,
had been received. and the presence o
the police. and 1t is worthy of note that
the remarks Which were most applauded
were those which dealt with the ulti
mate necessity Of using force. Such {
local meeting and walk round in 3 eoi
as this was may seem trivial affair o.
first sight. 1t is necessary, therefore. to
remember that it is but q specimen o
similar meetings taking place ell ove
London at the same time. The direc